A price increase is not a tax increase one winds up in the private sector the other into the goverment’s coffers.
As for Mittal...it would depend on the domestic market of course, of course Honda and Nissan would probably benefit as compared to say Mercedes or Hyundai as they have more internal productive capacity, if anything they would benefit greatly as domestic manufacturing would expand.
It is a false choice. Stop trying to imply that a tax is less of a tax because it is “indirect.” You still pay it . . . what difference does the existence of a middleman make?
How do higher steel prices in the US benefit auto makers using US steel (like your examples of Honda and Nissan)? How do higher US steel prices hurt auto makers overseas (like your examples of Mercedes or Hyundai) using foreign steel?